Surveillance of Citizens by Government

News about Surveillance of Citizens by Government, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Feb. 19, 2015

Editorial welcomes Pres Obama's measures to oversee drone use by government agencies, but says they fall short of fully protecting Americans' privacy; notes Federal Aviation Administration's latest proposals allow commercial use of drones but with restrictions; contends that with such a new technology, efforts must be made to lay down appropriate uses for such devices. MORE

Feb. 13, 2015

Pres Obama will meet with nation's top tech firms at Stanford University to discuss array of cybersecutiry issues; meeting comes at time of deep estrangement between Washington and Silicon Valley, as Obama seeks to prevent companies from shoring up encryption on commercial products that will make it harder for government to crack systems. MORE

Feb. 3, 2015

Obama administration announces rules that will require White House oversight of National Security Agency's surveillance of foreign leaders and will compel intelligence analysts to delete private information collected about Americans and foreigners that has no intelligence value. MORE

Jan. 29, 2015

Document leaked by Edward J Snowden shows that electronic spying agency Communications Security Establishment Canada examines 10 million to 15 million electronic uploads daily as part of antiterrorism effort carried out in conjunction with United States and other allies; agency refuses to confirm existence of project. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Declassified documents reveal Federal Judge Roger Vinson of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court permitted National Security Agency to gather information from foreigners' emails and phone calls before Congress enacted 2007 Protect America Act; documents were given to New York Times as result of Freedom of Information lawsuit. MORE

Jan. 22, 2015

France outlines aggressive program to prevent future terrorist attacks like that at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo; proposal, which includes updated intelligence and surveillance operations, as well as possible renewal of country's anti-terrorist 'national indignity' law, raises questions over balance of national security with civil liberties. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

France is considering whether it needs to strengthen its antiterrorism laws in wake of attacks in Paris, but suggestion advanced by some that country should emulate United States' Patriot Act draws criticism and protest from both sides of Atlantic; legislation authorizing surveillance of citizens has little support from French public, and Patriot Act itself has become shorthand for limiting freedom. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

Justice Dept reveals prior existence of Drug Enforcement Administration database that had contained American telephone records, adding new details to disclosures about mass government surveillance. MORE

Jan. 16, 2015

Federal study points to lack of viable alternative to bulk collection of telephone call records as means of intercepting communication of terrorists, even as civil rights advocates contend that such practices are intrusive; findings, which cast doubt on technological solution to problem, come year after Pres Obama announced moderate reforms to National Security Agency collection practices. MORE

Jan. 16, 2015

Editorial contends European leaders are taking misguided actions to reduce hate speech and prevent terrorism in aftermath of Charlie Hebdo attack; warns suggested censoring of hate speech and providing means of monitoring conversations by Internet service providers would be potentially ineffectual, invasive and dangerous; holds government should continue to use targeted intelligence gathering to stem terrorist threats, but not censorship and surveillance. MORE

Jan. 13, 2015

Terrorist attacks in Paris create sense of urgency in the United States and Europe, as concerns grow that more citizens will join extremists to fight in Iraq and Syria and potentially commit acts of terror at home; officials are renewing and reevaluating their efforts to deal with existing militants and to prevent others from joining. MORE

Jan. 12, 2015

Justice Dept's classified study reveals that FBI has from 2008 onwards become increasingly involved with running government's surveillance program, which is most often associated with National Security Agency; redacted version of report has been made available due to Freedom of Information Act suit filed by The New York Times. MORE

Jan. 5, 2015

Survey of writers around world by the PEN American Center finds that significant majority say they are deeply concerned with government surveillance and that it has affected their willingness to address controversial topics in writing; results show that writers consider freedom of expression to be under threat around world in both democratic and nondemocratic countries. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Dec. 6, 2014

British court overseeing intelligence agencies rules that electronic mass surveillance of people's online communications and cellphones is legal, like Prism program revealed by Edward Snowden; Amnesty International and other privacy rights, which brought on complaint, say they will appeal at European Court of Human rights, as Internet privacy rights are generally given greater protection on Continent. MORE

Nov. 27, 2014

British brothers Hamza and Mohommod Nawaz are jailed for conspiring to attend terrorist training camp in Syria and unlawfully possessing ammunition; sentences are handed down as British government introduces new counterterrorism law to increase surveillance of people suspected of involvement in jihad. MORE

Nov. 26, 2014

United Nations adopts resolution urging all countries to protect the right to privacy in digital communications and to offer citizens a path toward rectifying violations; resolution signals growing international attention to issue, which the UN described as a human right. MORE

Nov. 20, 2014

Senate Republicans use filibuster to block consideration of bill to end and replace National Security Agency phone records program; data collection could continue even if law expires in 2015. MORE

Nov. 20, 2014

Postal Service officials appearing at House panel hearing say agency granted almost all of about 6,700 requests from law enforcement in 2013 to monitor mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations; says it denied only 10 requests. MORE

Nov. 19, 2014

Senate Republicans succeed in blocking overhaul of National Security Agency program that collects bulk records of Americans' phone calls by vote of 58 to 42, two short of passage; critics of bill say program is critical tool to fight terrorism, while supporters hold it is affront on personal liberties. MORE

Nov. 18, 2014

Editorial calls on Senate to break filibuster on the USA Freedom Act; argues privacy is too important an issue to gamble on the next Congress; observes while bill is imperfect, it is a good way to begin restoring individual privacy that has been systematically violated by government spying. MORE

Nov. 16, 2014

First column by Prof Beverly Gage holds anonymous letter sent by Federal Bureau of Investigation to Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr, which contained explicit allegations about King's sex life, offers potent warning about danger of domestic surveillance; warns King's experience is reminder that concerns about surveillance overreach on part of nation's intelligence agencies are not idle fears. MORE

Nov. 7, 2014

Confidential documents released by Britain’s domestic intelligence service reveal that British spies have authority to intercept privileged communications between lawyers and their clients, and may have illegally exploited that access. MORE

Nov. 5, 2014

Robert Hannigan, newly appointed director of Britain's electronic intelligence agency, castigates American internet companies for inadvertently providing terrorists with communication networks, and charges them to strike a better balance between privacy and security; comments are most virulent amid campaign by intelligence community against pressure to rein in their digital surveillance. MORE

Nov. 5, 2014

Conservative legal activist Larry Klayman is urging federal appeals court in Washington to strike down the National Security Agency’s program that collects Americans’ phone records in bulk; Justice Dept insists that the once-secret program is designed only to identify terrorists and their associates. MORE

Oct. 28, 2014

United States Postal Service reports that it approved nearly 50,000 requests in 2013 from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations; number of requests, contained in 2014 audit of surveillance program by service's inspecor general, shows that program is more extensive than previously disclosed and that oversight of it is lax. MORE

Oct. 25, 2014

British news reports say Scotland Yard will pay woman who had a romantic relationship, and a child, with an undercover police officer who had been sent to spy on her and never revealed his real identity or fact he was married; police will pay out equivalent of about $680,000, as part of a settlement to head off a formal lawsuit; payment is first of its kind in Scotland Yard's history. MORE

Oct. 8, 2014

New York City files brief asking United States Court of Appeals for Third Circuit to affirm Federal District Court decision to dismiss lawsuit that claimed New York Police Department violated Constitution by spying on New Jersey Muslims because of their religion. MORE

Oct. 1, 2014

Obama administration lawyers have been debating whether Treasury Dept must inform people or groups it lists as foreign terrorists when it relies on warrantless surveillance as basis for designation; provision in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requires government to disclose when it uses information from eavesdropping in any proceeding against people. MORE

Sep. 27, 2014

Apple's iPhone 6 is first smartphone of post-Snowden generation that will disrupt investigative abilities of National Security Agency and nation's law enforcement agencies; phone encrypts emails, photos and contacts based on a complex mathematical algorithm that uses a code created by, and unique to, the phone’s user and that Apple says it will not possess. MORE

Sep. 22, 2014

Child Pornography case in Washington State sparks debate over military's role, and its use of powerful investigative powers, in civilian cases; use of law-enforcement program by Naval Criminal Investigative Service to uncover traders of child pornography is in question. MORE

Sep. 17, 2014

Op-Ed article by author James Bamford examines question of whether data gathered by the National Security Agency about Americans with Arab ties had been given to Israeli military for use against Palestinians; notes that veterans of organization and former NSA contractor Edward J Snowden say that is the case. MORE

Sep. 13, 2014

Documents released show that 2008 case, in which Yahoo unsuccessfully challenged constitutionality of demands for information on foreign users, set crucial precedents establishing government's right to request emails, phone records and other data from technology companies without a warrant. MORE

Aug. 14, 2014

Former State Dept official John Napier Tye filed whistle-blower complaint in April arguing that National Security Agency's broader data collection practices abroad, authorized by Reagan-era presidential directive, violates Americans' Fourth Amendment rights; complaint, filed as Congress considers amending act on how NSA operates domestically, focuses attention on how agency operates abroad under different rules. MORE

Aug. 12, 2014

Baruch College Prof Johanna Fernandez files lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Manhattan asking judge to order New York City Police Dept to find and turn over material about department's surveillance of Puerto Rican nationalist group Young Lords; Fernandez, who is preparing book about group, was told by Police Dept that no such records exist, despite extensive monitoring of group by police in 1969 and 1970. MORE

Aug. 6, 2014

Secret documents leaked to online magazine The Intercept show that about 20,800 United States citizens and permanent residents are included in federal government database of people suspected of having links to terrorism, of whom about 5,000 have been placed on one or more watch lists. MORE

Jul. 28, 2014

Editorial supports bill that will finally put an end to indiscriminate bulk collection of Americans' telephone records and bring needed transparency to abusive spying programs; contends bill represents breakthrough in struggle against growth of government surveillance power; urges Senate to pass it without further dilution, putting pressure on House to do the same. MORE

Jul. 25, 2014

Sen Patrick J Leahy says he will file new version of bill aimed at ending National Security Agency’s bulk phone records collection program after extensive negotiations with Obama administration and privacy groups; some privacy advocates who opposed House-proposed bill as too watered down say they back Leahy's measure. MORE

Jul. 21, 2014

Guardian newspaper publishes interview with former National Security Agency contractor Edward J Snowden, who says oversight of surveillance programs are so weak that members of United States military working at spy agency sometimes shared sexually explicit photos they intercepted; also says British government often pioneered most invasive surveillance programs because its intelligence services operate with fewer restrictions. MORE

Jul. 11, 2014

Five California men file federal lawsuit challenging national Suspicious Activity Reporting database, which gathers data about individual Ameridans in hunt for terrorists; plaintiffs contend federal standards are too lax in allowing reports from security guards and police to be uploaded without restriction or scrutiny, and that they encourage racial and religious profiling. MORE

Jul. 10, 2014

Report released by The Intercept online magazine, based on documents provided by Edward J Snowden, identifies five American Muslims, including the leader of a civil rights group, as having been subjected to surveillance by National Security Agency; documents arouse anger among Muslim civil-rights groups, which say there is no basis for the apparent spying. MORE

Jul. 7, 2014

Obama administration officials say National Security Agency routinely filters out correspondence of Americans that has no intelligence value as it targets suspected terrorists globally; statement is response to new disclosures by the Washington Post suggesting that roughly 9 out of 10 agency-intercepted communications involve people who are not direct targets of surveillance. MORE

Jul. 3, 2014

United Nations is using more and more drones in some of the toughest peacekeeping missions in world to improve intelligence-gathering capability; effort is also raising new issues about what to do with so much information and whether or not it translates into peace. MORE

Jul. 3, 2014

Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board that sharply criticized the collection of the phone records of Americans by National Security Agency comes to starkly different conclusion about agency’s exploitation of Internet connections in United States to monitor foreigners communicating with one another abroad; holds program is largely in compliance with both Constitution and surveillance law Congress passed six years ago. MORE

Jun. 27, 2014

Germany will cancel its contract with Verizon Communications as part of fallout from continuing revelations by Edward J Snowden that American intelligence agencies had routine access to global data provided by telecom companies; is one of the first signs that companies in the United States are starting to lose business because of the scandal. MORE

Jun. 25, 2014

Federal District Court judges in Oregon uphold a 2008 law permitting warrantless surveillance but strike down a key aspect of the so-called no-fly list that blocks people suspected of terrorism ties from boarding planes. MORE

Jun. 22, 2014

Editorial argues that legal statement from British counterterrorism official Charles Farr shows that country is likely engaging in mass digital surveillance of citizens in manner similar to United States; praises privacy groups who have threatened to take issue to European Court of Justice; calls on European courts to establish high burden of proof before governments can gain access to private communications. MORE

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Surreptitious monitoring of conversations did not begin with the revelations recounted in “Citizenfour,” but rather has long been conducted by the authorities, private detectives, armies and criminals.